Sterile or Spiritual: What Describes Your Home?

Current decorating trends often leave little room in the home for décor of significance, spiritual or otherwise. Furniture once handmade and passed down for generations is now replaced by inexpensive composite materials that suit our current style. Unfortunately, stories are lost as we remove these pieces from our lives. The one bedroom apartment or quaint starter home you move into and decorate at the birth of marriage is the first of many addresses your family will call home. More than simply “where your heart is”, home can be a modern alter or well displaying God’s work in your life.

Israel’s Example

Israel repeatedly built altars celebrating deliverance and offering repentance recorded in the Old Testament. Wells dug deep into firm soil proved God’s provision for thousands of years to those drawing upon the water within. Even as Joshua led Israel across the Jordan River, God instructed each tribe to stack a rock one upon the other. These twelve rocks were visible when the river flowed and intended to spark questions from future generations. In response, the faithful would respond with the story of God’s deliverance, protection, and provision.

Modern Trends

Today’s home décor is spiritually sterile. Ancient conversation starters are gone and a new bookshelf, table runner or coatrack aren’t things that peaks questions of significance. We no longer gather daily around a well to get the water we need and, praise Jesus, we no longer need to build alters for a sacrifice. Today’s wells are private and alters are often buried within hearts. The testimony of God’s work in our lives is hidden from the world and forgotten, even by the recipients.

The current centerpiece from Target and disposable decorations from Ikea look great but speak nothing of God’s direct work in our lives or our rich heritage. As you begin your journey together as a couple, determine to leave signs of the sovereign that will encourage visitors and your children’s children to ask questions and open an opportunity to hear the story of love, hope, deliverance and forgiveness that God longs for all to receive.

Spiritual Home Decor

This isn’t to say every artifact in your home is an heirloom or storyteller. A friend once told me about her grandparent’s coffee table. They chipped out the edges and inserted stones, each collected over years, each with a unique story. When our son was born, we lived states away, so I created a family tree with photos in his nursery.

Today, our family is working backwards and collecting artwork to represent the homes and states we’ve lived in (thanks to modern printing, thrift shop frames, and spray paint!) Forged from struggle, joy, suffering, blessings, births, and deaths we’ve been shaped and refined along the way. Each address and state we’ve lived in tell a consistent story of God’s character growing (often painfully) in our lives. These are the stories we want our kids to know, stories that reassure hearts in difficult times that God is for us and nothing will ever separate us from His love.

We need these stories in the storms of life and we need to hear other’s stories of faith along the way. However you choose, find a way to show God’s story in your life and tell others. Start small and find something your family can collect along the way that will physically remind you and others of the greatest story ever told.

Writing publicly was a humbling leap of faith for Julie who wrote as a private form of worship, a way to lean-in and draw-near to the Creator. A member of Redbud Writers Guild and blogger, she nurtures the wellspring of life while tackling gritty realities life (and sinful hearts) produce. Her second chance marriage has blessed her with an encouraging husband, two vivacious kids and a loving lab that keep her on her toes. Julie’s hands are spinning many plates: Wife, business partner, mama, teacher, community advocate, outdoor enthusiast and spiritual cheerleader. Visit her at Peacequility, just don’t ask what’s for dinner!

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Thank you for sharing this important concept of “spiritual home decor.” What a great way to put it! We are quick to forget the amazing things God does for us, and we often fail to share the incredible stories that He is writing through our lives and family histories. (Tami Myer)